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Why do people even worship Janna?

ForgottenStone·10/8/2018, 5:42:40 PM·3 votes·3,415 views

One thing I don’t understand about Janna’s new lore is why is it that Zaunites worship Janna?

Overall she doesn’t seem all that god-like at all considering the only thing we see her doing is occasionally using her powers to blow away poisonous smoke, but even this seems to be a fairly rare occurrence since the Zaunites are still dying from the pollution (as a side note shouldn’t Piltover be just as poisonous as Zaun considering in RL a high rise has the same air pollution as a 1 story building to escape the air pollution you need to be thousands of feet in the air) and Janna doesn’t even try to save her followers from brutal murder considering Warwick’s short story.

Also the tech levels of Zaun and Piltover are high enough to actually compete with magic, so I don’t think low level magic should impress people so much to bow down in worship and if they can create functional AI, chem boosted cyborgs, purple hulk, goo supermen, giant sapient rats, time machines, etc. surely they could invent air filtration and scrubbing systems, completely invalidating the reliance on Janna if they actually cared enough to do so.

Even stranger is the fact magic isn’t exactly unknown to them as well considering in Ezreal’s lore magic is something Piltover actually teaches in special schools so if you have money you can become a mage yourself and even if Zaun lacks these schools considering the 2 cities are so close they are literally on top of each other I’m pretty sure mages are running around in Zaun as well or at the very least some people have come in contact or seen a mage before.

So in this kind of environment it just seems odd someone would consider Janna someone to be worshipped as she just doesn’t seem all that impressive compared to everything else.

But if she could summon literal hurricanes, tornadoes, and could change the weather at will on a large scale I could see at least maybe some people in a technologically advanced civilization might think she’s a goddess.

Or if Zaun was less crazy with little technology and magic didn’t exist then someone like Janna will probably seem impressive enough to gain a cult.

She might work better in Bilgewater helping sailors navigate through storms but then there is Nagakaborous...

12 Comments

Gold Light10/8/2018, 8:23:01 PM7 votes

I think you're forgetting what Janna represents. She's not technically a goddess; she's a spirit, and she gains power from prayer like how demons feed on despair. It's not power that causes people to revere her, though.

Janna saved Zaun. When the Piltovan Canal failed and sent countless people plummeting into the sea, it was Janna who rescued them. When the Gray gets too dense and enough people call out for her to blow it away, those prayers give her the power to do so. People worship and revere her because she's a legend; a figure who represents hope. Zaun is a cesspool full of crazy chembarons, rogue experiments, toxic gas, and in many cases, poverty. It's a bleak place to live, but even amidst all that, Janna still provides something that people latch onto. It doesn't matter how powerful she is or whether or not the people are aware of magic. People revere her out of faith, which is the core behind literally every religion. When things are at their worst, people will pray to her, and we have several instances in the lore of Janna answering those prayers.

ZapMyHeart10/8/2018, 7:23:15 PM2 votes

My thoughts are because it's based on socio-economic trends.

Piltover and Zaun are interconnected together, however, Piltover is the rich area, while Zaun is Skid Row.

Aka Eagleton and Pawnee (Parks and Rec) or from Battle Angel Alita, Tiphares vs The Scrapyard.

Unlike Piltover, where everyone is relatively comfortable and attracts the richer crowd. Zaun is like the black market, dealing with basically anything that might not be legal, attracting shady people and all kinds of questionable business or those who can't afford anywhere else/can't get out due to being born there due to poverty.

Those who live in destitution have a tendency to seek out some spiritual aspect, perhaps as a way to cling onto hope because despite the technological advances in Zaun, it doesn't free the citizens from their poverty nor their environments. The reason is because only a small portion of Zaun's population actually strike it rich through these dealings, while everyone else trudges along and try to scrape by to see another day.

Janna, who might not be the most powerful being, is worshipped as a protective figure, as who doesn't want a motherly figure with magical powers protecting them? Those people cling onto this because they have nothing else and it allows them to be comforted in face of their realities. And hope is considered to be the most strongest feeling out there, allowing beings to get through dark times.

If you read her flavor story, the last few paragraphs give you a bit of insight on what a Zaunite would feel when around Janna.

Chibi Bronzlife10/8/2018, 9:07:48 PM2 votes

There is only one answer, without even needing to read your post: "Why not?" My girl Janna does her thing, it's not her fault if people worship her for it, plus people have worshipped worse.

GreenLore10/8/2018, 8:03:03 PM1 votes

She is helping keeping the air clean,something that no one else bothers to do. Keep in mind that Zaun is run by the chembarons,so the most wealthy people in Zaun are all essentially gangster bosses who mostly care for their own interests.So they won't invest huge amounts of money into keeping zauns lower districts clean.

So Janna is likely the only one who does something against the bad air on a larger scale.(and its likely that she can't be everywhere at the same time,so she might help her followers directly if she is near them and sees them in trouble).

Besides we don't know how magic works,so just because some schools in piltover teach about magic doesn't mean that everyone can learn any kind of magic(its possible that magic works this way,but we don't know until riot gives us a bit more information about it).

RyzeTheSmurfMage10/9/2018, 5:18:09 AM1 votes

Piltover doesn't have magic schools. Ezreal was just learning ordinary things and hextech and stuff. His magic abilities were awaken after discovering the gaunlet.